I questioned for a long time why we chose the wedding date that we did so many years ago. Because I was teaching at the time it meant that my honeymoon got shortened. Split in half, in fact, due to the fact class was in session just a few days after we got married. Now, however, I think it was genius! It has become the greatest way to recharge our marriage batteries right before the school year that takes place right in our home.
I had written that it would be done on-a-budget....well, that didn't exactly happen. RM surprised me and he ended up not following too many of the financial rules. I'm not sure how he justified it, but he made it clear that he wanted me to enjoy myself and to not be stressed. I guess once a year bending the rules is ok as long as we are back on track now! All I know is that it was so fun to get away and though it was short, we stretched it by making little outings just the two of us over the course of the weekend. I think it was a good mental break right before school starts.
The weather was fantastic over the weekend and it preparation for school, I got a "bee in my bonnet", as they say, and took advantage of the warm weather by cleaning up a ton of wine crates that we have in one of our barns. One of the main things I like to do before school starts is go through all their stuff, restock, clean up, organize, etc. I like doing that in the school area and even other areas like the kitchen or their toys. My whole house is our classroom and so their stuff makes it all over the "classroom" by the end of the year. Drives me nuts and takes me weeks to put it all back into some kind of order.
I had already been doing that all summer, but hadn't finished the way I had hoped because this year the garden took up so much of my time! This weekend with only days before school started, I decided to tackle their clothes and my family closet/mudroom. First, I had to get out all the big and bulky shelves that were full of their clothes and shoes. No problem, that's why teenage boys were invented. Then, a quick vacuum over the floor that used to be the floor of the garage, so huge planks with giant cracks full of everything from kitten litter remains to cat food. Didn't take too long. Then, I don't even think the wine crates were completely dry, I moved in the wine crates and stacked them in a huge semi-circle around the edges of the wall. It honestly looks like an American Eagle clothing store now. I'll include a picture later.
I quickly loaded up all the kids clothes in nice tidy piles and everyone that came by kept saying, "Mom! It looks soooo good!" Why? Because the behemoth shelves were gone that were not matching and were so awkward. The space just looks so much better. I was going to have RM build closets before, but he has had so many other projects, it hasn't gotten done. He still wants to do the floor so that it is level and matches the other half the mudroom, but for now it looks great. I had extra crates, so I just kept adding more and more. That's when I realized, "Hey....I could put my own clothes in here...there's enough room!" So off I went to the one closet that exists in the whole house and I took down all my clothes and even my husband's few things and guess what I did? I folded dresses, skirts, blouses and shirts, and put them in the wine crates. Why not? I didn't have a bar for hanging things and I thought to myself, "Hanging things up is overrated." If they get wrinkled, I'll iron. I wanted the closet space for toys.
Out came more wine crates....into the closet. This was where I had to stop as it was getting too late last night to continue, but after a morning of school today, you can bet I will finish up the toy organization. This closet has a door, so all the excess toys that spill out all over the place will now have homes and I'll be able to shut the door on them! Yeah! Who needs California Closets when you have a stash of crates?! I felt like once again God gave me a vision of what could be done, and then, on top of that the resources FOR FREE on site!!!! I love it when He does that!!! At one point my husband came into the room before I had started and he saw me leaning against a dresser with my head on my arm, eyes closed. I wasn't sleeping or crying. "What are you doing?" "Oh! Just praying....I don't know what to do with that space....." I think when it was all said and done he was relieved. I had been asking him since we had moved in to help me finish the family closet idea. He wanted to. He knew I needed it done, but there were other much more important projects. The night before I started my overhaul of the room, he had asked me to prioritize my dream list of projects. Doing the closet wasn't actually first.....there were other things I wanted done for sure. Taking this off the list for him was a dream come true I think. I'm always so happy when I become like some of my friends that I call "capable women". These friends use tools, build things and their husbands get out of the way and are able to work on things that they really need to instead of always doing projects for their wives. That was me this weekend....I became a capable woman!
This morning, I print off chore cards, new schedules and start school. We'll have a yummy breakfast, sitting together as a family and then one kid at at time we'll go through what their year will look like. At our last homeschool meeting, one friend described how she has a scavenger hunt for new school supplies before the day starts. I thought, "What a great idea!" So, thanks friend, I'm going to do that, too! The kids will love searching the house for their new things. May as well make it fun! I'm planning on really focusing on the younger team because I did so many neat things with the older ones that the younger ones never got to do. I don't want them to miss out. It'll mean lots of field trips which I'm looking forward to as I loved doing that with the older kids. The poor older children have to actually work hard! Sigh.....
In the past I motivated my kids with "bucks". I've used Lego bucks, Hotwheel bucks, etc. Everytime they finished a page of math or were well-behaved I would give them a buck. Just a fun thing to do, not every day, not even all year, but whenever school was becoming a drag and we needed something fun to do or to look forward to. That got expensive with the first four, so last year I used thrift store bucks! But that, too, became hard to do as I felt like they were always wanting to got shopping....! This year, new idea, "Field Trip Bucks"! I'm looking to bless them with field trips all year, but I'm going to make them feel like they've earned them. They need 20 "Field Trip Bucks" to go on one. But they are only allowed to contribute 5 bucks each. That means one kid can't earn all the bucks for the family. They all have to earn them as a team (the younger ones are the one earning them). We'll see how it goes....! They've already earned a few by doing hard projects over the weekend and wow did it motivate them!
The homeschool group's theme this year is Psalm 23. My prayer is that the Lord will be our Shepherd, guiding us, protecting us, leading us through whatever the year will hold......
good for you Momma! Go to you capable woman !!!! oxoxo
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